About Leslie McConnell

Your afterschool program’s success takes more than you think.

Most organizations start an afterschool or grant-funded program and think that they are going to do better than those that came before them.  Their program is going to be the one that turns their school or community around…until it doesn’t.  And then program leaders wonder why.

They designed a program grounded in research and best practice, hired great staff, and set to work enrolling students and implementing their activities.  But the program doesn’t deliver on its promise.

Why?

Perhaps lots of reasons…

The research or evidence basis did not fit their implementation scenario.

They recruited the wrong students.

Lack of implementation fidelity.

Misalignment with the school day curricula confused the students.

Program staff ‘did their own thing’ because of miscommunication or misdirection. 

Unanticipated obstacles.

Lack of buy in.

Unclear focus.

Staff burn out.

They abandon the program when grant funds end.

And many others….

Our children deserve more.  

Thank you for visiting North of the Present. I’m Leslie McConnell.  I am an education-focused program evaluator and grant writer. But really, I like to think of myself as a data storyteller and solutions harbor pilot – and also a get-it-done writer, planner, analyst, coach, wife, mom, chief cook and bottle washer…you get the idea.  Especially that last part – I LOVE to cook.  My five-year-old nephew told me I was “a good cooker,” so you know its true. :) 

I help many-hat-wearing educators create, manage, and grow afterschool and grant-funded programs. Together, we uncover their impact, secure resources, improve effectiveness, and tell their stories.

How do I know I can help you?  Because I wear too many hats too. Probably many of the same ones you do. I know how it feels to be pulled in multiple directions, to have multiple priorities competing for your attention.  And I’ve figured out what to do about it.

I believe that good program design, aligned action, the right staff mindset, adequate support, and a continuous cycle of improvement has the potential to transform lives for the better.  And make your life easier in the process.

I want that for my kids.  And I want that for your kids, too. 

Check out my 5 guiding principles here.

I didn’t start out as a data person.  I’m a writer.  But I realized the power that data had to transform our stories and make them more real.  So I fell in love with the data part because I knew what it could do for my clients and me.  And I found I loved building systems and data tools that provided useful feedback for programs.  :)  I also knew that it was going to take a ‘non-data person’ approach to help my clients and their audiences – who were not data people.  They needed someone who could take that data part and translate it into information and insight that had meaning for them.  Simple language, no jargon, information they could actually understand.  I think that’s what gives me an edge.  It takes a non-data person who loves data and genuinely wants to help to make evaluation effective for most programs.  Data can lead to knowledge and knowledge is power. But program evaluation needs to be easy to understand and actionable to positively support programs and their leaders.  Or else its just going to sit on the (virtual) shelf and collect dust.

When I was heavy into the conference circuit – before COVID – I actually had what I called “data groupies,” people who came to sessions I presented just because I was presenting, or came to the same sessions year after year, even though they were veterans in the program.  I asked them why they kept coming back.  The answer was always something along the lines of: ‘I always learn something new,’ or ‘you make it easy to understand.’  Those kinds of comments make me smile.  I feel like I’m really contributing.  I’ve been honored to be selected to deliver multiple conference sessions through National State Directors of Migrant Education, 21st Century Summer Symposium, Extended Learning Opportunities, and others.

My work is designed to guide you from where you are to where you want to be and to tell your story of the journey.  For the past 20 years I have helped schools, government agencies, and nonprofits improve their supplemental and grant-funded education programs for children and youth facing some of the most profound challenges: poverty, failing academics, homelessness, displacement from persecution in foreign countries, trying to adapt to and succeed in American school but speaking not a word of English.  I’ve worked with small, community-based organizations, to school districts, to statewide agencies, and multi-million dollar programs.  I’ve supported programs that served as few as six classroom teachers to programs that served as many as 50,000+ students each year.  All of them had the same purpose: improved outcomes for children.

I have helped many kinds of initiatives in the public education space over the years:

• Educator professional learning programs for infusing performing arts in arts and non-arts classrooms – specifically opera and playwriting – as an instructional resource and lesson inspiration for everyday, standards-based classroom instruction – 19 years
• Afterschool and out-of-school-time education [I specialize in 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs.] – 15+ years
• Programs that serve children of migrant farm workers and out-of-school youth farm workers (birth-age 21) – 15 years
• Programs that serve K-12 students who were refugees – 8 years
• Computer science and STEM programs for historically underrepresented populations – 3 years
• Service learning programs – 3 years
• Programs that serve children and youth experiencing homelessness – 2+ years
• Career readiness and workforce development educator training – 2+ years

…among others.  Afterschool education and grant-funded programs have the potential to bring together initiatives that serve the needs of all children in unique ways. 

I founded North of the Present with a mission to empower educators tell their program’s story and change their students’ lives.  However, I want to do more than evaluate programs.  My intention is to relieve some of the pressure on education leaders, not add to it.  I’ve focused on afterschool and grant-funded program evaluation and improvement for more than 15 years and the most common challenge I encounter is that program directors and education leaders are overwhelmed, tired, and being pulled in too many directions.  They are too busy working IN their program that they don’t have the time and energy to step back and work ON their program.  And working ON their programs is the key to improving student outcomes and program results.